Page 21 of Reign

I’m afraid if I keep pinching my eyebrows together, I’m going to have a permanent line etched between my eyes. Nikita takes pity on me and continues his explanation.

“I assume Mateo is still spinning the story thathecarried out the hit on the Bakers?”

I nod.

He scoffs. I halfway expect him to roll his eyes, but that seems like too juvenile of a rection for him. For a second, I feel weird for taking him in like I am, but it can’t be helped. The guy looks like Ivan-fucking-Drago.

“Mateo contacted the Bratva leader at the time, who happened to be my father, and practically begged him to let him do the hit on the Bakers. It made me curious so I started looking into everything I could find about Mateo Santos, which at the time, wasn’t much. Of course, my father told Mateo no. We don’t involve wild cards in our hits and our dealings with Sam Baker were none of Mateo’s fucking business.”

His voice is calm and he’s speaking slowly like he has all the time in the world. I suppose he does since he got the bead on me faster than I did on him. I return the favor of assessing everything about him as he talks, mentally noting his clothes, demeanor, and word choice. Looking for anything in his body language to tell me he’s a threat, I come up empty. I move on looking for signs that he’s lying. I’m fucking tired of being lied to.

But again, nothing.

Nikita’s eyes have more warmth and depth to them than they did last night – something I wouldn’t have even noticed before Libby came into my life. I can tell by his casual posture he thinks whatever he’s going to tell me is enough to get me on his side.

I’m listening.

“But I’m a softy,” he says as he continues and he chuckles low when I throw him ayeah rightlook. “I found outwhyhe wanted to carry out the hit, so I contacted Mateo myself. I told himIwould make the hit and I would spare the girl. Earn points with my father for the hit while having a prominent cartel leader by the balls… who wouldn’t take that opportunity? However, Mateo’s not entirely stupid so he asked what this would cost him.” Another pause as he raises his coffee mug to his lips. “As a nineteen-year-old member of the most powerful family in the Russian mafia in Miami, I had plenty of money and weapons and was already gaining power quickly.” His story sounds a lot like my own and I can’t conceal the shudder that rips through me. “My research revealed that Mateo was still rebuilding after your parents destroyed him. Thinking about what he could give me to even the score, I suggested the girl and the drugs I needed to launch a side hustle outside of the Bratva. I was young and had time to kill and oats to sew before being tied down to my young bride. I could stand to wait a while.”

My stomach tightens and a snarl threatens to rip from my throat. I’m a second away from stabbing him in my living room when he confirms my suspicions.

“I told him I’d spare her… but from that day on, Daniella would belong to me and once she was older, I’d collect.”

He looks off toward the ceiling, lost in his thoughts for a moment. “Her eyes were as stunning then as they are now,” he adds, causing the growl to finally tear free.

I’m out of my chair in the blink of an eye. “You can fucking forget it. She’s done being bartered and traded. She’s chosen her path. And that path isme.” My fists are clenched by my sides. If I’d been holding my coffee, it would be on the floor right now.

“Are you sure about that? She doesn’t seem to feel that way anymore,” he says snidely.

“How long have you been watching us?”

“Since you moved in,” he says without shame. “Relax.” He waves a hand to tell me to calm down.

Which I don’t.

“The fuck I will. She belongs tome.I have claimed every inch of her and I will rip the skin off your bones before you touch her.”

He pulls a pistol out of his camel-colored cashmere jacket pocket and aims it right at me. It’s enough to make me pause but the bored look on his face confirms he won’t actually pull the trigger. Too much to clean up.

“Sit the fuck down, Dominic, and let me finish.”

I’m seething. Vibrating as the energy hums through my body. I clench my jaw so tightly I’m afraid I’m going to break my teeth.

“Time is a funny thing,” he says. “Since I made that deal with Mateo, a lot has happened in my life. Truth be told, I forgot all about the little girl whose life I destroyed that night. The other part of the deal held much more appeal to me after I’d grown up a little and fucked my away around America as well as Russia. I needed Mateo’s drugs and quite frankly, I didn’t care what happened to the girl.”

My head is starting to throb at the tangled web in which I find myself. I’m running through hundreds of conversations in my head, trying to figure out how events from all those years ago set the course of my life today.

I realize again how much of a pawn both Libby and I have been. How many of our choices weren’t actually ours but moves made for us by people in the background.

My blood boils just under the surface, but I try to calm myself down. I need a clear head. I ask the first thing that pops in my mind which honestly feels a little out of left field.

“What does Max have to do with any of this?”

Nikita’s eyes darken. “My clubs are in Max’s fucking name because I can’t own anything independently outside of the mafia or else they get eighty percent of the profits. I needed someone smart enough to not ask questions and stupid enough to be controlled. I thought I hit the jackpot with Max, especially because of his Russian background… untilhestarted skimming the drugs to sell on his own and stole that half billion dollars from Mateo.”

I interject, thankful that my emotions are abating. “So, why not just tell that to Mateo and take Max out of the equation?”

“Because if Max is murdered, detectives will look deeply into his life. They’ll seize his businesses until the investigation is over. And those aremybusinesses. Not to mention, they’re full of activities that I’d rather not have the entire Miami PD sticking their nose in. Plus, I can’t have my connection to Max getting back to my uncle, who is now the leader of the Miami Bratva. As far as he’s concerned, everything any of us owns also belongs to him.” The sneer Nikita gives when discussing his uncle makes me smile. I use the same one when remembering Luis.

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